John -bale



J. BALE.

A nnunciat or ior Hotels. I

No. 12,433; Patented Feb. 27. 1855.

7 JOHN .BALE, orBUrEALo, new voRK.

HOTEL-ANNUNCIATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 12,433., dated February 27, .1855.

To (all whom-it mag concern .Be it known thatl, JOHN BALE, of Buf- 510,111 the county ofErie and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements inlndicators for Hotel l 'urp'oses, which improvements are described-and illustrated in the following specification and :accompanying drawings withsuflicient clearness and; minutia to enable others of competent skill to make and use ny invention.

Two serious difliculties have been found to develop themselves .in the practical work 5 ing of .all hotel annunciators now before the public with which Iam acquainted. One of them is that if by means of any defect in;

the mechanism, by hanging clothes upon the pull attached to it or from any other cause one of the wires which .run from the severalrooms to the :annunciator remains drawn (which frequently occurs from accident or design) the alarm cannot be operated by the pulling of any other wire, by which the,

machine is rendered comparatively worthless for the time being. The other difliculty to whichI allude is the frequent breaking or stretching of thewiresbypulling them with undue violence, they being restricted at the annunciator to alless motion than is allowed by the cranks or turns near thatend of the:

wire to which; the force is applied, by which arrangement the whole line of wirefrom the room to the annunciator is subjected to the force applied at the pull. It is desirable also to arrange the numbers as compactly as possible, especially when the number of rooms is large.

My invention consists in a method of obviating these. difliculties and at the same time producing at a cheaper rate a simpler, more reliable machine, and one easier to operate than any now in use, and in a new method of arranging and indicating the numbers, by which they are made to occupy less room without any liability of confusion.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective View of a machine which embodies and illustrates the principles of my invention. Fig. II represents a vertical section of the machine as made by a plane passing from front to back near the center of the machine, most of the central parts be ing shown entire-the front of the machine toward the left hand. Fig. III is a like section showing the position of some of the parts when the wires are being .drawn. Fig.-

IV is a side elevation with the case removed showing some of the parts, and indicating some of their different positions. Fig. V represents a half section below the horizontal plane AZB as indicated by :a dotted line passing across Fig. II. Fig. VI is a half p'lan of the frame L. I

.A is the-case of the machine.

B" is the bed or base board uponwhich the frame is fastened.

G are lifters to which the wires running from the several rooms to the indicator are attached by the loops at the tops "Offthe lifters. ires are attached to the lower ends of these lifters which connect the lifters to the springs F, and also to the stops or catches E inclosed within the springs F. The catches E are kept in place at the lower end by passing through the bars 11., 'to which the springs F are soldered or otherwise securely fastened. The catches E drop into notches in the sliders A, and keep them from being drawn forward by the springs H which are coiled around them, one end of I which the inumibers of the rooms are painted.

These numbers are when not in use concealed from view by small plates 11)., which are hung upon a hinge at the upper edge,

which hinge must work with sufficient freedom to allow the plates to fall by their own weight.

When the catch or stop E is withdrawn from the notch in the slider A, the force of the spring H throws the slider A forward to the position in which one of them is represented in Figs. III and IV, and the plate 0 striking the plate D turns it up so as toexpose the number on the plate C to View. By this arrangement but very little room is required for the numbers beyond that occupied by the figures, as the plates D turn in Very little space. The wires also by which the catches or stops E are withdrawn are not limited by the machine to a less motion than the extent of that allowed by the cranks to which the bell pulls are attached in the rooms; so that any undue force upon a bell pull, falls only upon the crank or turn to which it is attached, and cannot derange anything else, and if one of the wires running from the rooms. to the indicator should be drawn and fastened in that position, it does not at all interfere with the efi'ectual working of any part of the mechanism by which the other numbers are operated. The sliders are supported near the back end by the plate m through which they pass.

The numbers are thrown back to their place after being used, by turning back the crank I which presses the two cranks J on the same shaft against the plate K through which the sliders A pass. The plate K when it is pressed back by the cranks J strikes against a shoulder on the sliders A, and forces them back so as to allow the catches E to drop into the notches made for their reception in the sliders A, the plate K being kept in a vertical position by guides g which slide in tubes h. The plate K is kept forward when not in use by two spiral springs, fastened at one end to the front plate of the machine.

S is a gong of the kind generally used in machines of like character. It is struck, when one of the wires leading from the rooms to the indicator is pulled, by the hammer R, which is lifted by the connecting rod Q, that being raised by lifting the back end of the frame L. This frame is hung near its front end, to the top of the machine by two straps of iron 70 in such a manner that the weight of the frame has a tendency to move it toward the back side of the machine, so asto bring a stop M- against the arm 0 which is hung close to the side of the frame L and turns upon a bearing at its lower end which bearing is attached to the case of the indicator. This stop M is made L shaped as shown in Fig. VI, and a similar stop P is fastened just above it to the case of the indicator in such a position that the arm of the stop M will when raised pass behind the arm of the stop P. The arm 0 is turned forward by the spring N so as to rest against arm 0 far enough to disengage the bar 2 from the lifter Gr and at the same time carry the stop M forward of the stop P, and the frame L is allowed to drop back to its original position allowing the hammer to strike the gong. The frame L is prevented from falling below its proper position by pins g projecting from the case of the machine. It will readily be perceived that this arrangement renders it impossible for the derange ment of one wire to interfere with any other in ringing the bell.

I claim as my invention 1. The arranging the number. plates C upon the sliders A or their equivalents in combination with the screen plate D, so that the number plate shall be pushed forward, lifting the screen plate, and thus exposing the number to view.

2. I claim the combination of the frame L, its hangings, and the stop M, with the stop P, arm 0, and lifter G, or their equivalents by which the wires are made to act independently of each other in striking the gong, unless the hammer shall at the instant be in active operation.

JOHN BALE. Witnesses:

THOS. I. How, H. B. BURT. 

